The taxi industry had been waiting for MPs to debate cross-border hiring, after raising concerns about the “dire consequences” it has for locally licensed taxi and private-hire drivers.
But following the debate in late October, industry leaders believe MPs do not understand what it is to be a taxi driver and have misunderstood the concerns and pleas.
Disappointment
In last month’s issue of PHTM, NPHTA director Dave Lawrie laments the huge opportunity missed by MPs to create a level playing field across the trade by allowing the “damaging cross-border situation” to continue.
David said: “Sadly, the debate was poorly researched and presented, showing how little the MPs understand our plight, the legislation, enforcement powers and root-causes of the problems.
“We have reached out several times to discuss, explain and assist, but are often met with auto replies or no reply at all, which leaves them to debate matters based on nothing more than rumour and misinformation.
“What a crying shame that we have waited so long for this high-profile matter, which has such an effect on so many, to be granted time in the House, only for it to be wasted in such a manner.”
Consequences
Harlow MP Chris Vince initiated the debate and David praised him for correctly highlighting the “dire consequences it has on the livelihoods of locally licensed taxi and private hire drivers, as well as the difficulty with cross-border enforcement checks which could impact public safety”.
“However, he mistakenly linked this practice to the Deregulation Act 2015, which is simply not the case.
“Unfortunately, there are too many other ill-informed people in our trade, many of whom are actively abusing this practice, and so are more than happy to convince both their MPs and local and national media that this issue is simply a consequence of the Deregulation Act and that lower safety standards and checks in other towns and cities is the problem.
Standards
David does not agree that licensing standards have been reduced, nor that drivers who have their taxi badges revoked by one authority simply go to another and no one is any the wiser.
He said: “Both the DBS update service and overseas checks are now mandated by all councils and safeguarding and other training courses are the same in many regions. Together with the new Statutory Standards and new DfT Best Practice Guidance, I would suggest that standards have in fact tightened.
“Whilst taxi licensing fees cannot be allocated to other council departments or used for enforcing rules of other councils, this does not mean that enforcement officers should not act against criminal offences committed by drivers licensed elsewhere – their limitation lies in enforcing local conditions not set by their own authority. All have the power to enforce regulation as national legislation is set by parliament.”
Missed opportunity
The biggest disappointment for the taxi trade is that if the people making the rules don’t understand the current laws and concerns facing drivers, how can they be in a position to improve things?
The fundamentals of PHV licensing remain the same, whichever authority a driver holds their badge with. The differences are between local policies, such as compulsory CCTV in cars, or dress codes for drivers.
It would be impractical for a Greater Manchester enforcement officer to pull up a Wolverhampton-registered driver for not wearing the correct clothing, but they would be within their rights and even obliged to step in if they saw a PHV driver being hailed in the street and picking up a fare that and not been pre-booked.
